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Report: Royal Guards Should Learn To Handle Mentally Ill

Officers protecting the British royal family should be trained to deal with the potential threat posed by the mentally ill, a security report recommended Wednesday.

More than 6,000 mentally ill people have written regularly or visited the palaces since 1993, according to the Inspectorate of Constabulary report.

The royal family faces different threats than members of the government, according to the report.

"While the risk of terrorist attack is usually lower, that from unstable individuals is greater, and officers often have to deal with and make instant assessments of such people, most of whom prove to be quite harmless," the report said.

In 1982, a mentally ill man named Michael Fagan twice slipped inside Buckingham Palace. On the second occasion, he spent 10 minutes sitting on Queen Elizabeth II's bed holding a broken ashtray while he talked with her before palace guards arrived.

In 1997, an escaped mental patient evaded security to get onto the grounds, but the queen was away.